Lenovo‘s (992-HKG) $2.3 billion purchase of IBM‘s (IBM) low-end server business is encountering labor strikes in China. Workers at the IBM plant say IBM was not offering sufficient severance for those opt to leave.

Coalitions among regional parties in the southern state of Tamil Nadufell apart, boosting hope that the business-friendly Narendra Modi, the prime minister candidate of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, would win the general election this May and speed up economic reforms. The S&P BSE 100 Index rose by 1.8% to a new record.

About Emerging Markets Daily

Emerging markets have been synonymous with growth, but the outlook for individual nations is constantly changing. Countries from Brazil and Russia to Turkey face challenges including infrastructure bottlenecks, credit issues and political shifts. Barrons.com’s Emerging Markets Daily blog analyzes news, data and research out of emerging markets beyond Asia to help readers navigate the investment landscape.

Barron’s veteran Dimitra DeFotis has been blogging about emerging market investing since traveling to India and Turkey. Based in New York, she previously wrote for Barron’s about U.S. equity investing, including cover stories and roundtables on energy themes. Dimitra was among the first digital journalists at the Chicago Tribune and started her career as a police reporter at the Daily Herald in the Chicago suburbs. Dimitra holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Columbia University, where she was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in the business and journalism schools. She studies multiple languages and photography.